Goossens Ellen, Tournaye Herman
Centre for Reproductive Medicine, University Hospital of the Free University of Brussels (AZ-VUB), Laarbeeklaan 101, 1090 Brussels, Belgium.
Curr Stem Cell Res Ther. 2007 Sep;2(3):189-95. doi: 10.2174/157488807781696258.
Like every other adult stem cell in the human body, spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) have the capacity to either renew themselves or to start the differentiation process, namely, spermatogenesis. Due to the continuation of the stem cell population in the testis, several possible options for preservation and re-establishment of the reproductive potential exist. Currently, spermatogonial stem cell transplantation (SSCT) is considered the most promising tool for fertility restoration in young cancer patients. This technique involves the injection of a testicular cell suspension from a fertile donor into the testis of an infertile recipient. Although, SSCT could prove important for fertility preservation, this technique is not without any risk. Testicular cell suspensions from cancer patients may be contaminated with cancerous cells. It is obvious that reintroduction of malignant cells into an otherwise cured patient must be omitted. Decontamination strategies to solve this problem are discussed. Another alternative to preserve male fertility could be in-vitro culture of SSCs. This approach may be applied to generate spermatozoa in-vitro from cultured spermatogonial stem cells, which, in turn, could be used for intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Xenogeneic transplantation and xenografting are two other hypothetical methods to preserve fertility. However, because of the ethical and biological concerns inherent to these approaches, xenogeneic transplantation and xenografting should be limited to research. When SSCT or SSC culture becomes available for clinical use, efficient protocols for the cryopreservation of SSCs and testicular tissue will be of great benefit. The search for an optimal freezing protocol is discussed. Apart from fertility preservation, SSC studies are useful for other applications as well, such as transgenerational gene therapy and cell-based organ regeneration therapy.
与人体中的其他成体干细胞一样，精原干细胞（SSCs）具有自我更新或启动分化过程（即精子发生）的能力。由于睾丸中干细胞群体的持续存在，存在几种保存和恢复生殖潜力的可能选择。目前，精原干细胞移植（SSCT）被认为是恢复年轻癌症患者生育能力最有前景的工具。该技术包括将来自有生育能力供体的睾丸细胞悬液注射到不育受体的睾丸中。尽管SSCT对生育力保存可能很重要，但该技术并非没有任何风险。癌症患者的睾丸细胞悬液可能被癌细胞污染。显然，必须避免将恶性细胞重新引入原本已治愈的患者体内。讨论了解决该问题的净化策略。另一种保存男性生育力的替代方法可能是精原干细胞的体外培养。这种方法可用于从培养的精原干细胞体外产生精子，进而可用于胞浆内单精子注射。异种移植和异种移植物是另外两种假设的生育力保存方法。然而，由于这些方法固有的伦理和生物学问题，异种移植和异种移植物应仅限于研究。当SSCT或精原干细胞培养可用于临床时，精原干细胞和睾丸组织的高效冷冻保存方案将大有裨益。讨论了寻找最佳冷冻方案的问题。除了生育力保存外，精原干细胞研究在其他应用中也很有用，例如跨代基因治疗和基于细胞的器官再生治疗。
